Irregular Productions and Lydian Productions. The Parks Theatre. 12 May 2018
I do not consider myself to be religiously inclined. In fact I would go so far as to say, the thought of being preached to about any form of religion makes me feel quite uneasy. It is then, with some trepidation that I front up to the 2011 revival of Godspell. The show, which is playing at The Parks Theatre, has been produced by Irregular Productions and Lydian Productions and is directed by Karen Sheldon.
Godspell is a musical originally conceived and directed by John-Michael Tebelak with music and new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It is based on a series of parables mostly taken from the first book of the New Testament – the Gospel of Matthew. However, for reasons partially outlined above I will avoid comment on the structure or nature of the show’s content.
Presented on a thrust stage, The Parks theatre offers a unique and engaging staging opportunity for a show about community and inclusion. The scenic concept by David Lampard, with set painting by Brian Budgen, places the action in a public space, perhaps at the back of some project housing. In this place we find the everyman, but more specifically a youthful and vibrant bunch of enthusiastic disciples. At the centre of the round, a large circular platform surrounded with an eclectic selection of chairs doubles as both rostrum and a table. Radiating out and into the auditorium the play space continues; the performers occasionally presenting from amongst the audience, including us, and even drawing a few of us onto the stage.
The prologue, Tower of Babble, doesn’t immediately settle one’s fears. Enter Joshua Angeles as John the Baptist singing Prepare Ye. His voice chimes clear as a bell on the lyric and he commands attention from atop a raised railing overlooking the stage. When Mark Oates, as Jesus, begins to disseminate his first parable this production shakes off the predictable religious conformity, and begins to celebrate the power of community. Inclusiveness and accessibility is suddenly made possible by well-structured humour. Godspell is actually funny, and not afraid to make fun of itself.
In what must have been a coup for the production team casting this show, not one of the players delivers anything short of a professional performance. From the aforementioned Mark Oates and Joshua Angeles (who also plays Judas), to the stunning cast whom all play themselves; Harry Nguyen, Nick Munday, Jemma Allen, Ron Abelita, Katie Packer, Ruby Pinkerton, Maya Miller, and Scarlett Anthony. Each and every performance sets, and maintains, a professional standard in a truly ensemble presentation.
There are standout moments worthy of mention. Maya Miller’s rendition of By My Side is sung with stunning control and absolute belief and transcends in the three-part harmony with Jemma Allen and Scarlet Anthony. Mark Oates' gorgeous performance of Beautiful City is a pleasure to the ear. But props go to Ron Abelita’s entire characterisation which is so endearing, and charmingly constructed that is sets a tone for the rest of the cast, not to mention his impassioned performance of All Good Gifts.
In fact, everything about this show – from staging to lighting, from choreography to sound, and from musical direction to performance – is of an exceptionally high standard. This show is an object lesson in the professional levels an unfunded, amateur production can attain. Bravo!
Kerry-Lynne Hauber’s choreography is so clever and effective it blends effortlessly into the other production elements. Utilising the entire space it beautifully communicates the feeling of a community united in celebration and love. Martin Cheney’s musical direction is superb, and with band members spread all around the room it is thanks to Jamie Mensforth’s brilliant audio design and management that such a professional balance of cast vocal and instrumentation is achieved. Brad Sax’s lighting design takes full advantage of the Parks' superior rig and again heightens the professional standards of this overall production. The fairy lights, however, are unnecessary and distracting in the crucifixion.
Godspell tells a well-known story – I don’t think I’d be spoiling it for you to say that Jesus dies in the end – but it takes a new and welcome approach to the content which makes it accessible even to those who don’t identify as religious. This production takes a pretty decent show and delivers it at such a professional standard, that it should not be missed. If you are feeling the same trepidation I was, shake it off and take a ‘leap of faith’. This Godspell is worth it.
Paul Rodda
When: 10 to 19 May
Where: The Parks Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
State Theatre Company in association with Adelaide Festival Centre. Dunstan Playhouse. 10 May 2018
Sense and Sensibility is sensational! Artistic director of State Theatre and director of this production, Geordie Brookman, and his ensemble cast with a few guests, make this old chestnut an absolute joy to behold. American Kate Hamill is renown for her witty adaptations of classic novels. Sense and Sensibility was first on the boards in 2014 in New York. She followed it up with Pride and Prejudice last year, and The Wall Street Journal awarded her Playwright of the Year in 2017 for her efforts.
Jane Austen wrote both these extremely popular and now-quaint bonnet dramas in 1811 and 1813. They similarly involve a bevy of beautiful daughters without dowries, who thus require men with means - but may settle for less when love conquers all. There are loads of characters moving in and out of the girls' lives and while I have been too dull to read either novel, I did a bit of homework and drew up a relationship chart based on information from Wikipedia. I kept my schema on my lap during the show - much to the amusement of the nineteen-year-old daughter of a friend of mine who accompanied me, as she had actually read the novels. PS She loved the show!
So why was this production so great? Well, everything really. Hamill's script is cheeky and whimsical, and captures the sweep and detail of the action, and it couldn't be done in under two hours-fifty, but that's OK when you are enjoying yourself. Designer Ailsa Paterson provided a set very similar to the recent Hamlet opera, a large high-panelled ballroom-size room with a feather chandelier. The soft pastel wall colour magically transformed vertically into another moody hue, and yet even more colours were rendered by Geoff Cobham's brilliant lighting. The period costumes were also colourful, crisp, varied and very stylish. Theatre magic and the understated humor of the production was established in an early scene - the first meeting of Edward Farrars and Elinor - where chairs pushed from offstage slid like curling stones across to floor to cease motion at exactly the right place next to table. There was even a gasp from the audience. Bravo stage crew! Stuart Day wrote novel arrangements for a few bars of modern tunes that reflected the mood of the love-struck in scene changes.
As great as the aforementioned scene was from a creative and performance point of view, it was but a mere appetizer of the absolutely lovely acting from all players - each manifested a major and one or more minor roles, participated in whacky scene changes and also impressed as bonneted ancillaries. Homegrown Nathan O'Keefe was a study in understatement as a delicate, sensitive and nervous Edward. Bravo! Anna Steen, as the object of his affections, Elinor, beautifully suffered with unrequited love and disappointment. Bravo! The State acting ensemble also includes Rachel Burke, Miranda Daughtry, Rashidi Edward and Dale March. Burke gave an impetuous, pouty and immature Margaret. Daughtry as the strong-willed Marianne provided an excellent contrast to her older sister, Elinor. Edward was an elegant and charismatic Willoughby, and March an introverted and stiff Brandon. All bravo! The ensemble was augmented by sturdy stalwarts of State's stage - Caroline Mignone, Lizzy Falkland and, last but not least, the always amusing Geoff Revell - who all made the most of several characterisations. Bravo to all of them!
But they wouldn't have looked as good as they did without director Geordie Brookman's tight rein on style. His vision was clear and crisply executed with regimental precision.
If you said you would never go to a State Theatre show again after sitting through their Festival offering - the dark, heavy-handed, unimaginative and cliché-ridden In The Club - now is the time to return. Sense and Sensibility is a must-see.
David Grybowski
When: 4 to 26 May
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: bass.net.au
University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. Little Theatre. 5 May 2018
My first viewing of Australian playwright Stephen Sewell's Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America was State Theatre's excellent production in 2003 - the first since the world premiere. I was blown away by the audacious honesty and shear bravery in tackling the issues of the erosion of American civil rights and executive sanction of torture that followed the destruction of the twin towers on 11 September 2001 (9-11) via a frighteningly plausible narrative. In an interview conducted after Myth.... and published on the Currency Press website, Sewell said, "...it was only gradually that I realised that the United States had in fact abandoned [Western values, such as the rule of law, the outlawing of torture and suchlike] decades before, and that torture centres such as the School of the Americas, in Fort Benning in Georgia, renamed after 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, had been training torturers and death squad militias for many years." Surmises like this have spread beyond the domain of rabid leftists like Sewell; few people believe it's not impossible any more.
A wonderful device used by Sewell to bring Australia into the story is to make Talbot an Australian academic in a New York university. Myth... is the title of his provocative post-9-11 thesis. For a social researcher so forward and controversial in his thinking, he would have to be the most naive person in the world to be utterly surprised about the unwanted attention his thesis attracts; Talbot is no Jordan Peterson. Talbot's protagonist is a shadowy spook bent on bringing him back into the neoconservative fold, by force if necessary. Miller's The Crucible meets Orwell's 1984, and there is even a self-reference to Kafka's The Trial in case you still don't get it.
Maybe while Sewell is Head of Writing for Performance at Sydney's National Institute for Dramatic Arts, he is reflecting on the dialogue in his wordy play of fifteen years ago. Dialogue like this made-up example:
A: "Did you go to the market?"
B: "What?"
A: "Did you go to the market?"
B: "The market?"
A: "Yes, the Central market."
B: "Why do you want to know?"
A: "I needed some bread."
B: "So, it's my fault we don't have any bread?"
Sewell's characters in this play are absolutely the worst communicators, and they are a lesson in how to escalate a difficult conversation into a hopeless confrontation - thus rendering the drama I suppose - but it's tedious when it's overdone.
Director Eric Strauts theatrically creates Sewell's exciting New York of city view apartments, intellectually stimulating university life (and cynically unhappy university life eg. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), creative writers, and even a visit to the Guggenheim. His actors are well directed into some shattering and searing scenes.
Fagan as the much abused Talbot gave us a palpable mental deterioration. His nemesis, played by Steve Marvanek, looked a bit corny in sunglasses and gloves, but overcame looks with malevolence. I have seen the work of these wonderful actors many times and they would have been better suited in traded roles. Who needs enemies when you have friends like Talbot's Max, played with Machiavellian intent by sharp actor James Black. His work in the conversations between Talbot and Max were highlights. Bravo to Yasmin Martin as the wide-eyed student. She was a terrific amalgam of 1960s idealism, new century internationalism and functional feminism. Tantalising echoes of David Mamet's 1992 Oleanna were in the drama between Talbot and Martin's Marguerite. Tim Edhouse nailed the role of the dean of Talbot's faculty. His calculations over how to deal with Talbot had a real-world glint to them. Jessica Carroll might have gotten more out of her contribution as Talbot's screenwriter wife, Eve, but Sewell took her role too many places away from the main story. The exception was that she was a great vehicle for Talbot to go on a rant about what's important in life - movie writes or human rights.
Brittany Daw's set design had a feature unseen by myself at the Little Theatre and may be a first - the use of risers to provide different floor levels to segmented acting scene areas, which was good. The red pill-shaped motifs decorating the walls reminded me of code (The Matrix) and blood; maybe they meant something else or nothing at all. Unfortunately, a lot of important and frequent action (Talbot's office, Max and Talbot) was squished into the tiny upper left portion of the acting stage which gave a few people a neck ache. The frequent use of the image of a Nazi-like eagle poised over the USAF insignia made the point of parallelism chilling. Wonderful murder mystery music (Isobel Clemow-Meyer) covered the stop-start scene changes, although transitions might have worked better.
If you think we live in dangerous times, this play is a reminder that the buffoonery of Trump is peanuts compared to the erosion of civil rights and sanction of torture that happened under Bush after 9-11. It is also a compeller to be constantly vigilant and to exercise your democratic rights. Indeed, I found the abuse of power in the play deeply saddening, more so because I don't do enough in my own backyard, like protest against all these crap apartment buildings going up in the city. My complaints about the script and production are small beer compared to the big ideas and scary possibilities explored in the play and I urge you to see it.
Heed what Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) wrote, referring to the Nazis:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
David Grybowski
When: 5 to 19 May
Where: Little Theatre, University of Adelaide
Bookings: trybooking.com
Independent Theatre. Goodwood Theatre. 27 April 2018
Born Yesterday is officially a classic American movie. Born on Boxing Day in 1950, it garnered a slew of Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Garson Kanin, who before and after the film did almost everything imaginable in screen and theatrical entertainment, said he modeled the wholly disagreeable lead male role of Harry Brock on Harry Cohn who was a big shot exec at Columbia, the production company that later made the film. Cohn said he wasn't bothered by it, which is another sign of narcissism. The Broadway play by Kanin precedes the film by four years.
The story concerns junkyard millionaire Harry Brock's trip to Washington to work with his bought lobbyist, a US Senator, to unfetter his enterprises of entangling legislation. He brought along his main squeeze, a young former chorus line girl, but realises she needs the Pygmalion treatment. So he foolishly hires a young journalist - who is also staying at the Hotel Statler - to give her some education. The natural thing happens as well as some sense being literally belted into her by Brock. It becomes the floozie's personal growth story.
The parallels between Kanin's Brock and Donald Trump were not lost on director Rob Croser. It's very easy to imagine Brock as a younger Donald Trump in the New York real estate game exercising his misogyny, bullying, and power and mind games. Stuart Pearce provided the perfect stature and characterisation to channel the President into the script. A great oaf did he give us. Yet Brock is so easily bamboozled by his moll, Billie Dawn. I haven't seen the movie, but I dare say Madeleine Herd possibly matched Judy Holliday's Academy Award-winning performance in the original film version. Her vivacity and energy was such a welcome and necessary contrast to the old men around her and to Brock's bombast. Herd's silent acting in the game of gin scene was a joy to watch, a highlight even above her humourous and charming nuance of the text and visual dexterity. Bravo! She was glamourously enhanced by Sandra Davis's stylish costuming and Carmen Ng's hair dos. Another bravo!
David Roach made playing Harry Brock's sad, old, worn out, cynical, defeated lawyer look easy, but it was theatrically nothing to behold. Greg Janzow gave Harry's go-fer cousin an intermittently amusing ennui. Jonathan Johnston as the young reporter excellently foiled the other males with ironic sense and charm.
Director Rob Croser might have snapped up the pace to keep the comedy compelling, but he had his players in the right places for dramatic import. David Roach's and Rob Croser's sets are always expertly constructed and this one was functional on many levels, but I would have argued against the Christmas-colour trim at the production meeting. Professional graphic designer Nicholas Ely's program cover was great lateral thinking and perhaps the only physical evidence of the link between then and now.
The uncanny comparison of a 1946 model of Trump is fascinating, and the switch of narrative arc onto Billie Dawn takes us into a kind of morality tale. There is a compelling battle of wills, but it's the captivating performance of Ms Herd that is required viewing.
David Grybowski
When: 27 Apr to 5 May
Where: Goodwood Theatre
Bookings: independenttheatre.org.au
The Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Arts Theatre. 26 Apr 2018
A Little Night Music is arguably one of the wittiest, most well-written and elegant musicals in the business. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, it was inspired by an Ingmar Bergman film and a book by Hugh Wheeler. It shines as Sondheim at his best, albeit very demanding on the cast.
Pam O’Grady, with Richard Trevaskis as her sidekick, has directed the latest Adelaide production for the G&S Society and it is a delight.
She has brought an excellent, salon orchestra onto the stage which scenic artist Brian Budgen has adorned with a handsome background of towering birch trees. The chorus arrives, swishing and swaying in a lavishness of period costumes, and ostentatiously tune up their voices around the grand piano - the first clue that this musical has a touch of the tongue in cheek.
The tale unfolds of the widowed middle-aged lawyer whose vapid 18-year-old second wife remains a virgin 11 months into the marriage. He reconnects with his one-time lover, the fading stage star, Desiree, and is challenged by her pompous militaristic current lover. A comedy of marital manners and sexual mores unfolds as all the protagonists head off for a notorious Weekend in the Country.
The musical features one great hit song, Send In the Clowns, but tunes such as Night Waltz, The Glamorous Life and Weekend In the Country linger in the mind long after the curtain has fallen.
O’Grady has assembled a cast with lots of musical nous and has chosen lead players who deliver the level of acting prowess which can convey the comic nuances of hypocrisy and betrayal on which this show’s success must lie. As they say of this show, it was written for actors who can sing and not singers who can act.
Nerves were evident on the first night and the early bedroom scene is hard to play but one soon could see the cast settling into their skins and then the production was humming along in a life of its own with the audience right in the groove, catching the delicious darts of humour and responding with hearty laughter.
That’s the contenting point in a production, the sweet spot where the audience and cast meet as one, having made that connection that makes the living magic of theatre, the raison d’etre of the whole ancient art form. It makes a critic’s heart sing.
There was Robin “Smacka” Schmelzkopf as the foolish Frederik Egerman, dreaming of his lost true love while his brooding young son, gently played by William Richards, tries to practise sex with the maid while drooling over his infantile new step-mother. Schmelzkopf slips into the soul of that misguided romantic dad and plays him true to form through the cut and thrust of love lost and found and lost and found to the reward of denouement. He’s a stylish actor and an endearing singer. Come the show’s defining moment, Send In the Clowns, he underscores the sorrow and irony of it all with a lovely depth of empathy, complementing the emotion evoked by Bronwen James as she delivers that extraordinary song in the role of Desiree. She is fabulously defined as the star in decline: vivacious and audacious, sentimental and simpatico. The audience understands why men love her. They love her, too.
And they love bristling at Nicholas Bishop who braves the role of the licentious hypocrite, Count Carl-Magnus. It’s a role of stuck-up buffoonery and Bishop, of the beautiful baritone voice, plays it to the hilt. Has the man ever turned in a half-hearted performance? One thinks not.
Ah, and there is Deborah Caddy as his elegant and long-suffering wife, Countess Charlotte. Caddy’s professionalism and her powerful stage presence are stand-out. She sings to suit and, oh, plays irony with a capital “I”. She’s another joy in the wonderful casting of this show.
But there’s more.
Norma Knight plays the crusty old matriarch, Madame Armfeldt. From a wheelchair she resonates like a latterday Bette Davis. She’s wise and facetious, and as she comes to the song, Every Day a Little Death, audience members find themselves holding their breath.
And going from the elderly of this Norwegian family to the youngest, there is also Frederika Armfeldt. Henny Walters has been a popular nominee for best emerging actress awards and here with her crystalline fresh voice she works true to the high standard that attracted such acclaim and doubtless will garner more.
As the ingenue bride, Anne, lovely Emmeline Whitehead is delightful to behold but in this difficult role of simpering silliness, she has taken something of shrill tumble over the vocal top. A spot of direction would soften those twittering high registers.
Amid the chorus, Vanessa Lee Shirley shines and is hilarious with James Nicholson, Josine Talbot, Monique Watson, Laurence Croft, and Macintyre Howie Reeves in sterling vocal and physical support. Megan Doherty plays the maid, Petra, and holds the house to ransom as she delivers the overly long and difficult solo, The Miller’s Son.
Christine Hodgen and her lovely orchestra are just there on the stage throughout, mellow and well-balanced against the vocals and with an aesthetic of their own.
And thus does the G&S have another hit show on its hands.
Now to get the word out and fill the houses, for it is a fabulous night’s entertainment.
Samela Harris
When: 26 Apr to 5 May
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: gandssa.com.au